Cellular structured materials obtained via additive manufacturing for electronics cooling application

The use of a Latent Thermal Energy Storage (LTES) system using suitable Phase Change Materials (PCMs) can be an effective way to cool electronics components because of their high-energy storage densities and isothermal nature of the heat transfer process. Amongst the available kinds of PCMs, paraffin waxes have been found to exhibit many desirable characteristics. Unfortunately, they present a few unfavorable thermophysical properties, among those the low thermal conductivity. This paper aims at investigating new cellular structure materials with open 3D periodic cells based on a pyramidal shape obtained via metallic additive manufacturing developed to enhance the phase change process during both loading and unloading processes of PCMs. Tests are run by imposing a constant electrical heat flow rate of 30 W during the loading process, while the unloading one is run into ambient air to reproduce the cooling characteristics of electronic devices. These preliminary results highlight the effects of the 3D structure on the melting and solidification processes of PCMs; they also confirm that there might be an optimum cell size, which maximize the heat transfer through the PCM.